Sandy Carson – Contemporary & Commercial Photography

Black Friday

For the last 8 years I have been documenting Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Day. It is also known as the busiest shopping day in America, where consumers camp out all night long, queueing at retail stores for bargains, to kickstart the Christmas shopping season.

When I initially took on this project, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer hysteria and panic of desperate shoppers who, in recent years, have shot and pepper sprayed one another for cutting in line, and even trampled a security guard to death.

As a result, I quickly realized that capturing this day-long period of mass consumption was going to be an exhausting task. It became apparent that not only was there tension in citizens from this extravaganza, but also a sense of calming that corporate marketing schemes was having on consumers, at a time of economic turmoil. I then turned my focus on candidly capturing the reactions, contradictions and desperations of a nation's cultural tradition - shopping.

For the last 8 years I have been documenting Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Day. It is also known as the busiest shopping day in America, where consumers camp out all night long, queueing at retail stores for bargains, to kickstart the Christmas shopping season.

When I initially took on this project, I was so overwhelmed by the sheer hysteria and panic of desperate shoppers who, in recent years, have shot and pepper sprayed one another for cutting in line, and even trampled a security guard to death.

As a result, I quickly realized that capturing this day-long period of mass consumption was going to be an exhausting task. It became apparent that not only was there tension in citizens from this extravaganza, but also a sense of calming that corporate marketing schemes was having on consumers, at a time of economic turmoil. I then turned my focus on candidly capturing the reactions, contradictions and desperations of a nation's cultural tradition - shopping.